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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29412519">four plus one</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/daienkaixoxentei/pseuds/daienkaixoxentei'>daienkaixoxentei</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Five Plus One, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Getting Together, M/M, Pining, and everyone else has great fun at their expense, basically just a big fluff fest btw these two, but i couldnt find a fifth person, so it's just four plus one lol, these two are oblivious idiots</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:26:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,630</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29412519</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/daienkaixoxentei/pseuds/daienkaixoxentei</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Four times other people think they are in love until finally Levi realizes that they are.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Levi Ackerman/Erwin Smith</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>176</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>four plus one</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>gulp. this is my first aot fic ever and im!! so nervous!! writing for it but fr these two have been living rent free in my head for the past two months and this is the ensuing result. and also i wanted to write a fic where good things happen to these idiots because IN CANON IT'S ALWAYS BAD THINGS THAT ARE PLAGUING THEM AAAA </p>
<p>anyway no thoughts, head empty except for eruri fluff. please enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>1-</p>
<p>Armin knows deep down that he has no cause to be afraid of the captain nor the commander, but to be honest he’s still terrified of the both of them. Maybe it’s the constant intensity in their eyes, maybe it’s the harshness in which they dealt with everything—including themselves. But lately it’s begun to include something else, as well.</p>
<p>Armin is sitting by himself in the candlelit laboratory, poring over an old textbook about titan origins when the captain storms into the room angrily, slamming the door behind him as he enters. He stiffens up immediately, and contemplates whether he should rise to greet him.</p>
<p>“…Always reckless!” He mutters to himself, leaning back against a bookshelf. “I don’t know why I even bother with him. Constantly whining and preaching about his dream… going to get himself killed one day for it, too, just like the rest of them…”</p>
<p>Inadvertently, maybe due to the infuriated light in the captain’s eyes, maybe due to the fact that he’s <em>clearly </em>eavesdropping on a release of emotions he has no business listening to, Armin emanates a horrified <em>eep. </em></p>
<p>The captain flickers his hooded eyes over to him, and Armin scrambles to his feet to greet him with a salute. To his utmost surprise, captain Levi takes a seat on the bench across him.</p>
<p>“Hey,” he says in a quiet voice, more to the wooden table than anything else. “What do you think of Erwin?”</p>
<p>Armin blinks at the sudden question, not having expected anything of the like from the captain at all. “Erm,” he fumbles about for something to say. “I guess the commander is a very determined person… who is really suited for his position?”</p>
<p>Levi <em>tsks. </em>“But don’t you think he should be more careful? If he were to be killed… if I were to—<em>we </em>were to lose him, all his determination would’ve been for nothing.”</p>
<p>Armin studies him curiously, eyes widening in a realization he’d never made before this day. There’s something in the tenseness of his shoulders, the flicker of worry in his eyes, the hardness of his mouth that makes Armin wonder if there’s something else, something <em>warmer,</em> hidden there within the crevices of captain Levi’s stone cold heart.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>2-</p>
<p>The sun hangs low over Wall Rose, illuminating the grassy hillside outside its confines in hues of red and orange. Mikasa rides for the wall at an easy-paced amble behind the captain and commander. She has one ear cocked to listen aimlessly to their conversation, the other—as usual—on high alert for any enemies despite their proximity to safety and the clear lack of titans in the area.</p>
<p>“Things went well today.” The commander is saying a la his stoic, formal manner to his subordinate. “Even if it was just a simple mission.”</p>
<p>Levi responds with a sullen glance. “Does it matter to you if the expedition was of no value?”</p>
<p>Mikasa’s hands tighten around her reins grumpily. To be honest, she’d had no interest in the easy expedition they’d had—just to survey an abandoned shack near the wall because the commander had had a vague interest inside something within. But if that idiot little man thinks the expedition is of no use, well, then she’s determined to believe it was something important after all.</p>
<p>Erwin lifts his head to the sky, with something akin to a smile. “We’re returning with no lives lost. That should mean something.”</p>
<p>Levi fixes him with a scathing scowl. “It seems to me that you have a ridiculous interest in everything stupid <em>other </em>than your own miserable life.”</p>
<p>Erwin turns to him with surprise. When their eyes meet, a long silence passes between them, with the captain looking up in meaningful imploration and the commander studying him in reticent curiosity. Mikasa narrows her eyes between them, wondering why they were acting so strange.</p>
<p>An uncomfortably long moment later, they break their eyes apart. Erwin clears his throat, and Levi looks pointedly away from him, actually tilting his head so that he could survey the hilltop far to his left. There’s a strange air between them, the kind of air that’s charged with electricity and utterly betrays the secrecy of butterflies.</p>
<p>And then Mikasa realizes with a quiet <em>oh </em>that escapes her surprised lips what all that weird behavior actually means.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>3-</p>
<p>Sasha licks her lips eagerly, eyes transfixed like a hunter onto its prey at the untouched food on the captain and commander’s plates. She’s finished her meal already, but the portions they give here are never enough to her and anyway all food looks delicious to her eyes, regardless of whether her stomach was full or not. Her gut rumbles hungrily.</p>
<p>They’re not eating because they’re lost in some argument with each other. Commander Erwin has his fingers pressed into his temple despite his otherwise composed demeanor, but captain Levi is <em>furious. </em></p>
<p>“This is what I’m always talking about.” Levi twirls his fork between his fingers aimlessly, but his eyes and expression are cold. “Look at you. Can’t even wipe your own ass anymore.”</p>
<p>Oh, so this is about Erwin losing his arm in the mission to recover Eren. Okay, but why is captain Levi so pressed about it? So pressed that he’s leaving his food uneaten, and it’s a shame too, because the warm rice is going cold. Sasha wants to reach out and free the poor meal from its misery.</p>
<p>“Be reasonable, Levi.” Erwin reassures calmly. He averts his eyes so as to look at his phantom limb. “Things like this are bound to happen during war. At any rate, I’m grateful to be alive.”</p>
<p>Perhaps because he thinks the commander is distracted, captain Levi lets slip a flicker of emotion within his eyes as he glares at him. This is an emotion Sasha recognizes immediately: longing. The same longing she has looking at the plates before her that <em>these two are refusing to eat. </em></p>
<p>Wait a second, longing? Sasha scratches her chin with interest, momentarily distracted. Really, these two? Commander Erwin doesn’t seem like he cares about anything else other than the mission, and captain Levi is always grumpy-looking and standoffish, even more so when it concerns the former.</p>
<p>Erwin looks back and catches the captain staring. A brief second of understanding passes between them, and they finally turn forward towards their plates and begin to eat. Sasha pouts in disappointment.</p>
<p>Levi flickers his eyes to how the commander struggles with his non-dominant hand.</p>
<p>“You can ask me if you need help with that.” He offers, with an undeniable softness to his voice.</p>
<p>Sasha fights back a smile. Wait till Connie hears about this…</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>4-</p>
<p>Fourth squad section commander Hange Zoe is <em>irked. </em>The report she has taken all week to file and write is scattered all over the floor of the commander’s office along with several other important documents. This is because the doorway leading to the balcony is left wide open and the table has been left unattended to mercy of the wind flowing freely within.</p>
<p>She frowns, squinting at the balcony across the room. Where the hell is the commander, anyway? Is that him standing there outside, silhouetted against the stars with… oho, could that be Levi? It has to be him. No other man in the scouts could be that short.</p>
<p>A smile finds its way onto Hange’s lips.</p>
<p>They’re talking about something she can’t hear, looking at each other when they think the other isn’t paying attention, and looking completely, completely adorable. Erwin shuffles closer with a silly covertness Hange supposes he thinks is subtle, until Levi’s body presses against him gently.</p>
<p> What a cute relationship they have! Hange wants one too. She looks at her subordinate with a sly grin.</p>
<p>“Absolutely not.” Moblit responds, flushing to the roots of his hair.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>+1</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I overheard the kids talking.” Erwin says mostly to the stars above. “I don’t know how I hadn’t realized until then.”</p>
<p>Levi studies him with hooded eyes. Under the moon he is a statue made in alabaster, all the corners and crevices of his handsome face brought into sharp relief in its black and white light. A twinge of heat flashes across Levi’s face.</p>
<p>“What the hell are you talking about?” He complains.</p>
<p>“You don’t know?” Erwin asks, amused. “I guess I should’ve figured. We’re both idiots when it comes to things that matter.”</p>
<p>Levi has no idea what he’s saying, and he absolutely hates it. He’s a complete stranger to not feeling in control of his actions and the situation on the battlefield, and for a man who’s been through as much as him, everything is always a battlefield. Even, and especially, the annoying emotions that overtake him whenever Erwin is concerned.</p>
<p>“I think you need to go to bed.” Levi rolls his eyes. “You’re talking nonsense already.”</p>
<p>“Am I?” Erwin questions.</p>
<p>Levi turns to look at him and is thrown back by the unabated fire in the commander’s eyes. His heart does a somersault in his chest, flying upwards and settling as a shocked lump somewhere in his throat.</p>
<p>When Erwin leans in, their lips press together and Levi realizes, <em>oh, </em>that’s what all this has been about. And <em>that’s </em>why there’s an ache in his heart when he looks at him, and he’s always overcome with the need to hover over him, protecting him from harm, and anytime they’re in a room together a desire burns within his gut to close the distance between them and pull his arms around him.</p>
<p>When they pull apart, and the moonlight fills the space between them, Levi marvels that he hasn’t realized the meaning behind all of this at once.  </p>
<p>So thinking, he brings his hands up to cup Erwin’s face, and kisses him again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>fin</em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i hope you liked it!!! please lmk what you thought of it</p>
<p>PS. tiktok user sarajamss if you're reading this, i'll have you know you're 100% the reason why i fell into eruri hell and idk whether i should thank you or hate you for it</p></blockquote></div></div>
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